All posts by NEMT Admin

There is a new Newsletter Editor.

After many years chained to his computer, Arthur Hamilton has stepped down as editor of the Trust’s newsletter. We all owe him a large debt of thanks for his work. It’s not going to be easy following his lead, but board member Mark Batey has volunteered to have a go.
All contributions gratefully received as ever. -> Newsletter Dec 2017

A reminder for those who are also members of the Coble and Keelboat Soc. Their AGM will take place on the 21st of October 2017 between 1pm and 5pm at the Duke of Cleveland pub on the Headland at Hartlepool. The Agenda will be attached to the September Coblegram.

Plus a little piece on Peggy from their August’s newsletter.

Paul Robinson’s work on the Coble Peggy

CKS member Paul Robinson, renowned for the quality of his sign writing on vessels of every sort, has put the final touches to the restoration of the coble Peggy at the North East Maritime Trust at South Shields.

Dear Member,
I wrote to you on 26th March to notify of you of the date of this year’s AGM – Saturday 22nd April – and to invite nominations for trustees. I am now advising you that the trust has received three valid nominations by the due date to be considered for appointment.

These are from: Mr Mark Batey; Mr Alex Finnegan & Mr Martin Wilson.

Under paragraph 9.10 of the trust’s Articles of Association, I am obliged to give all current NEMT members at least seven days’ notice of any resolution to appoint a trustee at the Annual General Meeting. This resolution will be at item 4 on the agenda, below.

Agenda:
1. The Minutes of the 2016 AGM held on 04/06/2016;
2. The Annual Report 2016 (to follow);
3. Annual Accounts for the year ending September 2016 (income / expenditure and balance sheet to follow);
4. Election of trustees:
4.1. Nominations received from prospective trustees;
4.2. Trustees to retire (under paragraph 9.7 of the Memorandum of Association) – 1/3rd of the current directors, by seniority – Paul Nicholson and Jerry Dudman. Both offer themselves for re-election and have the support of the board.
5. Any other business.

Jerry Dudman Secretary NEMT

P.S. If you have received this by post, it is because we don’t have a current up-to-date email address for you. To save the trust the cost of postage, and you have email, please advise me of your address using the envelope enclosed.

As well as adopting a Restoration Policy, the Trustees have recently adopted a Collection Policy. Here it is:

The Trust is always pleased to be offered items for addition to its collection. NEMT would love to be able to accept every offer but, unfortunately, the resources available are severely limited and every potential gift has to be assessed.The Trust is concerned that it must acquire and maintain its collection in a responsible manner. To ensure this the Trust has to:

1. Be sure that it can keep the items safe from theft, weather, fire.
2. Be able to protect the item for a long term of very many years.
3. Know that title (ownership) is with the Trust, or some other body or person – provided that if they retain title they guarantee and prove the item to be free from threat of destruction or damage or disposal to an insecure home.
4. Know that the item has relevance to the Trust’s core objectives which broadly relate to north east maritime heritage.
5. Know that through acquiring a particular item no future acquisitions will be threatened through space (and other resources) having been consumed by this item.
6. Be certain that the cost of acquiring and protecting an item is equitable to its importance.

In furtherance of the above the Trust will consider whether the protection given to any item offered to it, is sustainable; if not, the Trust will look at alternative options elsewhere and if none is available it may be necessary to reluctantly decline the acquisition of the item in question.

Once an item has been accepted into The Collection it must be recorded in an Acquisitions Register. Such register must record the following:

1. Name and address of donor or lender.
2. Any terms, covenants etc. applied by or through the donor or lender
3. Description.
4. Where stored.
5. Any protection and maintenance requirements.

In addition to the above, it is desirable to add an assessment of the item’s history/relevance/rarity/vulnerability/importance. It is also desirable to record any conservation/restoration undertaken.

A key part of the trust being able to take our boats onto the water for trips on the river and further afield lies, of course, with the renovation and maintenance of our existing ‘fleet’. As you will no doubt be aware, we have three major projects underway at the trust at present – each with a variety of demands on volunteer time and expertise.

1. The lifeboat Henry Frederick Swan under the direction of Tim West has been our main project for several years now, and is beginning the final stages of what will be a fantastic and important piece of heritage restoration. Several of you continue to work on her on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and we are very hopeful of a launch date in 2017.

2. Our boat-building classes are held on Monday and Thursday evenings and you may have seen progress recorded on our Facebook and Blogs. The boarding boat ‘Cygnet’ is our first new-build and we have laid the keel and major stern pieces ready for a recently purchased Stuart Tuner engine to be fitted.

3. Finally we have taken the sailing coble ‘Peggy’ up the slipway into our boatyard for assessment and repair under the direction of Dave Parker. She is one of the oldest cobles still afloat and is in need of some timbers to be replaced before a complete repaint. When finished she will again be a key asset and favourite among the public. We intend to restore her to her previous glory, but as you can see she is in need of some urgent work.

If you are interested in working on any (or all) of these projects then please come down to the yard on Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday for Henry Frederick Swan, Monday or Thursday evenings for ‘Cygnet’ and get in touch with myself or Dave Parker if you would like to help with the work on ‘Peggy’.

For each of these projects it would be brilliant if you are a heritage boat building specialist, but if – like most of us – you have few or no skills but an interest in learning and getting hands-on experience of a dying art, please get in touch or come down. You’d be most welcome!

It would be best if anyone who who wishes to be become a regular contributor to apply for a user login ID which you can do through the contact on this site or clicking on the comments/reply fields in cygnet.

Better still come along on a Monday or Thursday evening and ask for Mark.